1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to a wiping apparatus cleaning nozzles of a printhead assembly that covers the width of a sheet of paper.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ink cartridges for inkjet printers store ink and print predetermined images by ejecting droplets of the ink at desired positions on a recording sheet through a printhead. Ink containers of the ink cartridges must be kept at a lower pressure than their atmosphere to prevent leakage of an excessive amount of ink through the printheads or a wetting phenomenon at the printheads.
When nozzles of the printheads are clogged with dust, the ink cartridges are moved to a service station, and the printheads are wiped by wiping blades. Conventional printheads having one nozzle plate are commonly used in inkjet printers. The printhead is located on the bottom of the ink cartridge, which is mounted on the carriage moving in a main scanning direction perpendicular to a paper feeding direction. A plurality of nozzles formed at the printhead eject droplets of ink on a printing medium when the printhead is moving in the main scanning direction.
Inkjet printers having large-sized printheads including a plurality of nozzle plates have recently been developed. Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-1510 discloses a large-sized printhead having a plurality of nozzle plates arranged parallel to the paper feeding direction, and thus, a plurality of lines can be printed in one swath.
On the other hand, U.S. Pat. No. 6,592,200 discloses a printhead assembly including a plurality of nozzle plates arranged in the main scanning direction. When this printhead assembly is used, printing can be performed by moving only a sheet of paper while the printhead assembly remains stationary.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,592,200 discloses wipers corresponding to printheads. There are as many of the wipers as nozzle plates of the printhead assembly.